The Tichborne Claimant

The Tichborne Case, also known as the Tichborne Claimant, was a legal cause célèbre late in the nineteenth century that is discussed quite independently in two sections of this website. Given these connections it seemed worthwhile to present a summary of the case with links to those sections and other resources. The events were triggered by the disappearance of Roger Tichborne after he sailed from England to South America in 1853. Roger was the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.

The last positive sightings of Roger were in Rio de Janeiro, in April 1854, awaiting a sea passage to Jamaica. Although he lacked a passport he secured a berth on a ship, the Bella, which sailed for Jamaica on 20 April. On 24 April 1854 a capsized ship's boat bearing the name Bella was discovered off the Brazilian coast, together with some wreckage but no personnel, and the ship's loss with all hands was assumed. The Tichborne family were told in June that Roger must be presumed lost, though they retained a faint hope, fed by rumours, that another ship had picked up survivors and taken them to Australia.1

Lady Tichborne in particular struggled with not knowing the fate of her son and in the early 1860s began placing advertisements in the Times seeking information about any potential survivors of the Bella. By August 1865 the advertisements were also appearing in Australia:

A HANDSOME REWARD will be given to any person who can furnish such information as will discover the fate of ROGER CHARLES TICHBORNE. He sailed from the port of Rio Janeiro on the 20th April, 1851, in the ship La Bella and has never been heard of since but a report reached England to the effect that a portion of the crew and passengers was picked up by a vessel bound to Australia (Melbourne, it is believed); it is not known whether the said Roger Charles Tlchborne was amongst the drowned or saved...2

Later that year a person came forward claiming to be the long lost Roger Tichborne. The claimant, as he became known, was identified as Thomas Castro, a bankrupt butcher living in Wagga Wagga in Australia. A convoluted sequence of events saw the man taken to England in 1866 to have his claim tested and while accepted by Lady Tichborne as her long lost son, the rest of the Tichborne family thought him a fraud. Lady Tichborne died in 1868 leaving the claimant without his primary supporter and financier. The eventual outcome of the process was a civil court case listed for hearings in early 1871:

The case was listed in the Court of Common Pleas as Tichborne v. Lushington, in the form of an action for the ejectment of Colonel Lushington, the tenant of Tichborne Park. The real purpose, however, was to establish the Claimant's identity as Sir Roger Tichborne and his rights to the family's estates; failure on his part would expose him as an impostor.3

During the resulting court hearings Thomas Castro, alias Roger Tichborne, was ultimately identified as one Arthur Orton, and it is with this individual that we can begin making connections to Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land as it was known then. Castro himself provided the link to Orton when he underwent a judicial examination at the Chancery Division of the Royal Courts of Justice in 1867.

Arthur Orton was born in 1834, the son of a butcher at Wapping, in London. In 1848, being then fourteen or thereabouts, Orton went as a cabin boy or sailor to Valparaiso. The ship's books register him as having no marks on his person. He had in early youth, however, been afflicted with St. Vitus's dance. Both foots, as we shall see, become eventually of some importance. He deserted the vessel, and reached the town of Melipella, where he remained, under the name of Orton, about two years. In 1850 or 1851, Orton returned to Wapping ; sailing from Valparaiso in a vessel called the Jessie Miller - a fact also material for us to notice. At Wapping he courts one Mary Ann Loder, with whom he afterwards corresponded. At the late trial she swore to Castro as being the same man. In 1852 Orton sailed for Hobart Town, and there remained until 1855; when he crossed over to the sister colony, and entered the service of the late Mr. Foster in Gipps Land.4

Orton's connection with the families discussed on this site starts with his journey from England to Van Diemen's Land. Orton was a passenger on the ship Middleton, the master of which was William Storie. William was married to Eliza Bunster and they would eventually go on to name one of their children Orton (Ortin). During his tenure in Hobart Town Arthur Orton worked for a butcher Joseph Knight, who recalled the events in a Mercury article of June 1872. Joseph was the second husband of Isabella Rayner.

After relocating to Victoria, and then New South Wales, it is believed that Orton became Thomas Castro, and then the Tichborne Claimant, although this has not been conclusively proven. The claimant's civil case was ultimately lost, in the eyes of the court proving him a fraud, for which he was then tried in a criminal case for perjury. He was found guilty and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. There is a wealth of information online about the Tichborne Claimant.

Online Resources

Other Resources

  • Roe, Michael: Arthur Orton, The Tichborne Case and Tasmania; Tasmanian Historical Research Association, October 1971
Tichborne Romance and Orton Reality

Tichborne Romance and Orton Reality
Harvard Center for the History of Medicine

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